Orlando and the rhetoric of terrorism

A look at the how the news media covered the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida.

When 49 people were killed in a mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, the US media went into overdrive. The LGBT community has been vocal about its disappointment surrounding the lazy coverage that almost immediately resorted to topics of "terrorism", religious fundamentalism and gun control as opposed to investigative reporting.

I think the reason that both Trump and Clinton immediately went for the radicalist angle is because that's just the way that the political system and media system in the United States react to acts by Muslim Americans.

Zaid Jilani, reporter, The Intercept

The gaps in the reports were revealed soon after the incident. While journalists were digging into the gunman Omar Mateen's Afghan roots and Muslim faith, the real problem seemed to lie elsewhere; specifically, his dating profile.

The "blame" debate was also very quickly projected on to the presidential campaign. Many noted Hillary Clinton's keen use of the term "radical Islam" only hours after the shooting - a term she had decried before becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee. Others questioned Donald Trump's role in inciting further violence with his divisive politics.

We analyse the fragmented facts, the familiar narratives of terror and the rhetoric of blame driving the coverage of this story.